Indifference
by Sherry-Doll
Summary: He didn't really care. That's what she told herself. What he really thought was another matter entirely. MattxLinda, Rated T just in case.


**Gah. I finally managed to cough up some sort of romance. And it's not very well done either. SCREW THAT.**

**I've been working on MelloxLinda and NearxLinda...and then I thought, "Why not MattxLinda?"**

**And so...  
**

----

Linda nestled in the small crook in the middle of the giant tree trunk, gazing out at the grassy plains below contentedly, up and away from the world below and it's unbearably ugly truths. For a while she sat there, one hand resting gently on a branch just about as thick as her waist; she sat and waited for God knows what, waited for whatever would come, whenever it would come.

And then, without any sign or notice, she flicked open her sketch book and began to draw, her light, yellow locks falling softly across her face in thin swathes as she leant forward with a calm but concentrated look. The wind breezed carelessly past, raising a wake of dancing leaves and stirring grass that only seemed to inspire Linda more; her eyes glowed quietly with an inner flame and her hand hovered trembling above the page, each stroke of the pencil quite the opposite of the passing gusts that were playful and teasing – hers were careful and deliberate, delicately marking out lines and shapes.

Then, just as suddenly as she'd begun, she stopped. The hand froze, poised questioningly above the paper. She frowned. It was only a slight one, a small crease between her clear blue eyes that obscured the otherwise smooth, pale skin of her forehead, but it was a frown nevertheless, and she raised the pencil to her lips, tapping it slowly against her chin. With a sigh, she slumped and flipped through her past drawings before closing the pad and glancing dully at the ground. To her surprise, she saw Matt sitting at the foot of the tree, looking quite small and insignificant from where she was up high. It was amusing to watch him like this, because she couldn't ever remember a time when she'd felt superior to him. He _was_ number three after all, and even though everyone knew he could never beat Mello or Near, he still seemed frighteningly smart, especially for someone like Linda, who was so far back that they didn't even bother giving her a ranking. Of course, this didn't exactly make her stupid, just not as bright as Near, but still a whole lot smarter than ordinary kids. Linda had her talents – figuring out crimes and such definitely wasn't one of them; and neither was it one of her interests.

She adjusted her position slightly and peered down at his head, preparing to call out to him, but couldn't stop the peal of laughter that erupted from her mouth in time.

--

Matt blinked his eyes open when he heard the bubbling laughter faintly waft down. He glanced up to see Linda looking down at him, her face slightly flushed from the cool air and her hair tumbling over her shoulders in golden waves. She beamed at him with an amused expression and he grinned back languidly with a small wave.

"Whatcha doin' down there?" Her tone was light, teasing.

He stood, stretching like a cat. "Yeah? Well whatcha doin' up there?"

She shrugged, rocking back on her heels and pulling her dress over her knees. "You answer my question first."

Matt sighed, but it wasn't out of irritation. There was a lazy smirk in his voice when he replied. "Well. I got bored indoors." He grabbed the lowest hanging branch and swung himself up effortlessly.

"You? Bored?" She feigned surprise, quirking an eyebrow. "What happened to your Gameboy?"

"It got boring." There wasn't enough room in the small hollow where she sat, so he settled for the bough next to it.

"Descriptive."

He laughed.

"I thought you didn't like going outside."

"Inside got –"

"Boring, yes." She turned her head to observe him, eyes sparkling with quiet mischief.

He raised a hand to flick her casually. "I was going to say stuffy, but your word works too."

She slapped his arm playfully. "What was that for?"

"Why, interrupting me of course," he said wickedly, tapping her nose. She batted his hand away in mock disgust, and they sat silently for a while as the afternoon light gather a pink taint. Matt pulled down his goggles to see it clearer, and Linda could see the quiet admiration in his eyes. The silence became more and more uncomfortable and she glanced at him sideways. He seemed calm enough, like he always did, careless and laidback, but she was feeling quite queer and didn't really know what to say. Finally, she turned to him. "Why do you wear goggles?"

He slowly raised his eyes to hers, a puzzled but thoughtful smile tugging at his lips. "I guess it's kind of an 'old habits die hard' thing," he mused, looking up through the golden green canopy, unusually serious for once. "I've always had this weird phobia of something happening to my eyes, and goggles were the way to go for all round protection. Glasses look nerdy anyway."

"Plus, you don't need them," she pointed out.

He stared at her for a moment. "I _do _need glasses."

She was dumbfounded. "What?"

He gave a snicker. "I wear contacts."

_Contacts…Who would've thought?_ "That's what you get for playing so many video games," she admonished good naturedly.

"Of course, goggles can be quite a nuisance sometimes." Edging closer, the grin on his face was morphing into a smirk. "Everything I see is tinted orange, and –" he leant further in, and he was much too close for her liking; she shifted backwards apprehensively as he came closer still – "it can rather get in the way of things…" Their faces were mere inches apart now, and she could see his laughing eyes sparkling playfully. "…like this." And he placed a small kiss on her lips.

"!!"

As he pulled away, her hands went up instinctively to clap over her mouth as blood rushed to her face. Leaning back, Matt watched her, his heart giving an involuntary shudder when he saw her flushed cheeks and her blue eyes lowering away awkwardly. And then she whipped her head around. "What the _hell_ was that for?"

He suppressed a laugh and replied nonchalantly, "I was proving a point."

"What point?" She jabbed a finger in his direction, still looking red and embarrassed despite her fiery words. "_You_ invaded my personal bubble. Have you no idea of what the boundaries of normal human social conduct are?"

He shrugged, looking as unruffled as she was flustered.

"I'm serious! You can't just go around kissing random girls! Or guys!" Linda was really just blabbering now, trying to forget what had just happened. His bored, lazy expression wasn't helping. Neither was the fact that he looked so _damn_ innocent beneath the glow of the afternoon sunlight – at least, as innocent as he could look without seeming pathetic.

Matt dropped his eyes, gazing at her from beneath his red haze of hair. "But I _wanted_ to kiss you." She flushed an even deeper colour at that, fidgeting with her sketch book nervously. "Plus, I beat Mello."

"What?"

"I made a bet with him that I'd be able to kiss you before he did." He waved away her appalled expression carelessly. "Oh don't worry. He doesn't like you or anything. He just knows that Near does – well, kinda. But you know how he is."

Linda felt irritation pricking at her. "So how does he even know you're telling the truth? _I'm _not going to say anything."

He laughed, shaking his head. "Oh, dear little Linda. You forget how bad you are at lying."

Her annoyance rose. "Fine then. But I want half the money."

"Sure."

They lapsed into another silence even more awkward than the last. He exhaled slowly and reached out a hand to brush the hair away from her face, frowning when she shrank away from it. "You're mad, aren't you?" Her mouth twisted into a fake smile. "Of course not. Why would I be? You only invaded my personal space and utterly insulted me by betting on me. And you don't even care." That was what bothered her the most; the fact that he seemed to genuinely not give a _shit_.

A fleeting look of surprise crossed his face. "You think I don't care." He gazed at her for a moment, almost tenderly. "You know, I could really start to like you," he murmured. Then he gave a droll smile. "If only you weren't so low-ranked."

"Low-ranked?" she echoed, disbelieving and indignant. She felt hot and dizzy as she felt his eyes trained steadily on her.

"I don't mean that," he assured her. And Matt popped the goggles back on.

Linda sniffed. "It still hurts." She hadn't completely forgiven him, but she didn't feel as if she could be angry much longer.

He smiled slightly apologetically, lazily. "I really didn't mean that, you know."

She sighed. "I know."

They watched the pink fade to a half-light, and this time it wasn't awkward in any way. Matt's arm was draped casually over Linda's shoulder when they returned to the orphanage, the grass lilting softly behind them and the leaves rustling in agreement.

_Reality_, thought Linda afterwards, _isn't all that harsh after all._

**_----_**

**Yeah, that was really bad. I fully rushed towards the end because I was about to get kicked of the comp...And then I remembered that I had to think of a title and a summary.**

***headdesk***

**Feedback would be really great! =D Whether good or bad...-.-"  
**


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